Former star of The Mandalorian, Gina Carano, continues her legal battle against Disney following her firing from the Star Wars series, and the trial could include a star-studded selection of witnesses. A joint filing from Carano’s team and Disney has revealed that the likes of The Mandalorian lead Pedro Pascal, director Jon Favreau, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, survival expert Bear Grylls, and ex-Disney chief executive Bob Chapek could all be called to testify should the lawsuit get to that stage.
As per a report by THR, the trial is now “tentatively scheduled” for September 25, 2025, with Carano suing the House of Mouse for wrongful termination after she was let go from the Star Wars franchise after posting several highly controversial statements on X, then known as Twitter. The former MMA fighter-turned-actor also alleges that, while she was disciplined and ultimately fired for her politically charged posts, her male co-stars were not. This includes Pedro Pascal, with Carano highlighting to Pascal’s 2017 post in which he compares former President Donald Trump to Hitler.
“Upon information and belief, Pascal was not disciplined, required to review documentaries on any of these topics or speak to individuals with contrary points of view, or pressured to apologize for any of his posts,” Carano’s lawsuit reads. “His employment was not terminated, and Defendants made no public statements about his social media posts, much less refer to them as ‘abhorrent.’”
According to the report, Favreau, who created The Mandalorian for Disney+, would be called upon to testify whether Carano was due to lead a new Star Wars spinoff centered on her character Cara Dune. Reports at the time claimed that the studio had in fact given the greenlight to the project, which would have been titled Rangers of the New Republic. British adventurer and survival expert Bear Grylls, meanwhile, would be called to testify whether another Disney project set in involve Carano, Running Wild with Bear Grylls, was “terminated” in the wake of the controversy.
Disney has “pushed back” against the list of witnesses presented in Carano’s filing.
Gina Carano Was Fired After Sharing ‘Abhorrent & Unacceptable’ Social Media Posts
Gina Carano’s firing occurred back in 2021, with The Mandalorian star taking to social media to share several highly controversial posts. After first mocking the ongoing COVID-related safety measures at the time, as well as questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 US presidential election, Carano was ultimately let go by Lucasfilm and Disney after sharing a post in which she likened being a Republican to the experience of Jewish people during the Holocaust.
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After the studio terminated Carano’s contract, they revealed in a filing back in April how the events had transpired.
“The same day Carano grotesquely trivialized the Holocaust as comparable to sharp political disagreements, Lucasfilm announced that ‘Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.’”
The motion to dismiss Carano’s lawsuit was recently denied by federal Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett, with the trial now expected to begin on September 25, 2025.
